Only for Guild Members » any first-round selection.Balt

Matt Patricia’s unlikely path to becoming an NFL coach began with his buddies Authentic Kyle Long Jersey , setting up miniature players on a vibrating, metal field for fierce games of electric football.

”I knew at a very young age the strategic part of the game was something that I just loved,” Patricia said Wednesday after being introduced as coach of the Detroit Lions. ”I thrived on it. We would try to just out plan each other all the time and we’d have huge games that would roll into weeks at a time.”

Years later, Patricia took a pivotal step toward his dream job after earning an aeronautical engineering degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by being a graduate assistant at his alma mater. The former offensive lineman – who is from Sherrill, New York – coached up one of the players at RPI and saw him do what he was taught during a game.

”The success that we had and his joy that he showed from being able to do that, that’s really when it clicked for me as a coach,” Patricia said with his previously bushy beard trimmed and a pencil over his right ear. ”At that point, the strategic part of the game along with my coaching aspirations just kind of put things in motion.”

The Lions desperately hope Patricia takes full advantage of his first opportunity to lead a football team and ends their decades-long search for a coach who can lead them to elusive success in the playoffs.

Since winning the 1957 NFL title, Detroit’s only postseason victory was more than a quarter-century ago.

”Our goal is to win and to compete for championships,” team president Rod Wood said. ”I believe that we are taking the next step in meeting those expectations.”

Lions general manager Bob Quinn fired coach Jim Caldwell last month with a 36-28 mark over four years and two playoff appearances. The Lions went 9-7 last season and missed the playoffs, ranking among the NFL’s worst rushing teams for the fourth straight year.

”I wanted to find a leader that could take us to the next level and I am confident we have found that in Matt Patricia,” Quinn said.

The 43-year-old Patricia helped New England win three Super Bowls over 14 years. He was the Patriots’ defensive coordinator the past six seasons.

Detroit’s search was focused on Patricia right from the start because he worked with Quinn for a dozen years in New England.

”We sat next to each other in a lot of team meetings in New England for many of our years together,” Quinn recalled. ”We also spent a great deal of time together on the road scouting college prospects, traveling around the country trying to find new players.”

In recent years, Patricia has become a candidate to lead a team in the league as one of Bill Belichick’s top assistant coaches. He appeared to be in the running to be hired by his homestate New York Giants and perhaps the Arizona Cardinals, but choose the challenge in the Motor City at least in part because of his relationship with Quinn.

”My comfort level with Bob is huge in all of this,” he said.

After being a graduate assistant at RPI in 1996, Patricia shifted gears to be an aeronautical engineer for two years. Patricia got back on the sideline as a defensive line coach at Amherst College in 1999 and went on to be a graduate assistant for Paul Pasqualoni Youth Albert Wilson Jersey , whom he has hired to be Detroit’s defensive coordinator.

Jim Bob Cooter was not mentioned in the Lions’ release regarding staff additions , but he is listed on the team’s website as its returning offensive coordinator.

”Jim Bob is on staff and he will be here,” Patricia said. ”Obviously, he’s done a great job here in what he’s been able to accomplish with both him and (Matthew) Stafford and the offense.”

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鈥?Now that the Great QB Grab of 2018 is over, what’s ahead for the five first-round quarterbacks selected might be more daunting than getting selected on opening night of the draft.When NFL teams get desperate at the position, they tend to reach. Or mortgage portions of their future. Or sometimes simple blow it.Of course, in many other instances, they nail it, from top overall selections Eli Manning, Cam Newton and Andrew Luck to wise lower picks on the first night such as Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan and, yes, Aaron Rodgers.It really is a crapshoot.“Everybody’s draft board is set up differently, and when I recite to you all the best available player in this draft for the Cleveland Browns organization, this was the best available player,” general manager John Dorsey said of taking Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma to begin proceedings. “What he brings to this organization, I couldn’t be more excited to have him. Those other guys are really good quarterbacks, too Cowboys Jihad Ward Jersey , but I just felt that this was the best fit for this organization moving forward.”As the New York Jets felt with Southern California’s Sam Darnold; the Buffalo Bills with Wyoming’s Josh Allen, for whom they traded up five spots with Tampa Bay to get; the Arizona Cardinals with Josh Rosen of UCLA, also by using a trade, with Oakland; and the Baltimore Ravens, who concluded Round 1 with 鈥?you guessed it 鈥?a deal with Philadelphia so they could grab 2016 Heisman recipient Lamar Jackson of Louisville.Five QBs, the most since the 1999 draft and second to the epic 1983 first round that produced three Hall of Famer quarterbacks (John Elway, Jim Kelly, Dan Marino) of the six QBs selected.On Thursday, as the five teams with new signal callers looked ahead, all they saw and spoke about was sunshine and success.“We feel he has a very, very bright future,” Jets GM Mike Maccagnan said of Darnold, “and really when you put the whole thing together with quarterbacks, you analyze them from an ability standpoint, you analyze them from a character standpoint, and then you see what you think they can grow into, and we felt very good about Sam from that standpoint.”So what are the challenges ahead for these five potential franchise quarterbacks?BROWNSHistory certainly plays a role here. Since re-entering the NFL in 1999, the Browns haven’t had anything more than stopgap QBs. That’s almost two decades of searching James Daniels Jersey Elite , with the last two seasons’ record of 1-31 as abysmal as it gets.Enter Mayfield, who eventually should beat out newly acquired veteran Tyrod Taylor, if not immediately.Dorsey adeptly evaluated the pros about Mayfield:“It is a combination of things. I talk about hand size; he has 9 6-8th (inch) hands. … That is good for the elements in November and December. He has feet to extend the play. He has really good accuracy. He has a quick release. He has a strong arm. His efficiency in the red zone offense is uncanny.“You know what else separates him? He is hungry. He wants to be a really good football player, and he is going to be a really good football player.”Mayfield also is short for the position at just over 6-foot. He has to adjust to the pro-style offense of coach Hue Jackson. He must show he can take the kind of hits college players couldn’t deliver but the pros do regularly.And while teammates adore him for his leadership skills, there’s also a cockiness and borderline rebelliousness that can take a player (and team) in several directions, not all of them positive.JETSSize is no issue with Darnold. Nor are arm strength or competitiveness.Like Mayfield, he can sit behind a veteran, Josh McCown, who is a good teacher, though that won’t be for too long, either.What must be cured is Darnold’s penchant for turnovers and sloppy plays.“Obviously, we don’t want turnovers on any level,” coach Todd Bowles said, “but we think his upside and his ability far outweighs the turnovers. And sometimes just trying to do too much, sometimes trying to make the wrong reads and things he can learn from. Getting to know him, we think those things can be corrected, and I know just talking with him personally those things can be corrected.”BILLSAllen might have a higher ceiling than any of the QBs taken Thursday. He’s tall and solid and won’t be bothered by fall and winter weather in Western New York. He’s smart, had a sensational offseason to boost his draft stock Nyheim Hines Jersey Elite , and throws a terrific deep ball among the many spirals he unleashes.Allen also comes from the Mountain West, not the highest level of college conferences, and his career completion percentage is a mere 56.2.“We just think his makeup is going to help him work on his flaws,” GM Brandon Beane says. “We like a lot of his strengths. And that’ll be part of our job here is to accentuate his strengths and work on his fundamentals and the things that his so-called weaknesses are.”Buffalo has veteran AJ McCarron, an infrequent starter with Cincinnati before the Bills brought him aboard this year.CARDINALSAll three of Arizona’s 2017 quarterbacks were gone, most notably the retired Carson Palmer. Although the Cardinals signed Sam Bradford in free agency, it’s conceivable Rosen will win the starting job. Indeed, many NFL personnel people rated him the most ready QB for the pros.Rosen certainly has an edge, which cuts two ways. His competitiveness and desire to outdo anyone and everyone can be a major plus. It also can backfire and lead to impatience and bad decisions.He’s also had some injury issues, including a concussion.“To make a difference, you’ve got to be different,” new coach Steve Wilks said. “I love his personality. He’s wired the right way.”RAVENSIn some ways, this is as intriguing as any first-round selection.Balt.